“Tammy: The Coming Of Age Story About a Girl Who Is Part T-REX” review

From the moment “Tammy” was announced at the theatre banquet last year, I was excited to see the Theatre 3/4 class’ take on a children’s show. It was something you hadn’t seen before at Oak Park, which meant it could either be great or flat line. I’m glad to say this production did not disappoint.

The $5 ticket paid my entry to find the play was about a middle school girl named Tammy, who lives the unfortunate life of being part t-rex and part human. With this comes many conflicts and hurdles she has to jump over that the people around her can’t relate to. It ends comedically with her killing all of her bullies and ripping her best friend’s face off in a moment of rage, leaving her in solitary confinement.

The show itself was blocked in the round, which means that it was choreographed to where the scenes would be easily seen from any seat in the little theater. This is not an easy way to block a show, but it was done tastefully, with clear indication of when the setting changed.

Each person of the class was either on stage or doing a tech element, such as lighting or sound. Behind the scenes, each person was also on a crew, meaning they could be on costumes, house, makeup, set, etc. The effort put in to bring the show together amazed me.

Not to mention the quality of the show itself. Each character really knew how to phrase and time the jokes scripted for them and had the audience roaring in laughter. The little details of characterization added really helped create a high-quality show. Specifically, the lead character, Josie Biggs, who played Tammy. Her ability to take a line that wasn’t originally intended to be funny and put a comedic twist on it is spectacular.

Another element of the show that had me pleasantly surprised was the directing. The director of this three-act show, was a student in the class. Junior Katie Hulme volunteered to direct this production. It is incredible the turnout of this production, it is no different to me than any other show OP has put on.

The students in Theatre 3/4 have done it once again. Another amazing show for the book, I just don’t know how they’re going to top this one.